Figment
by Nova-Author
Summary: Until we meet again on the other side, love…until we meet again. I will not let you down…I will take care of your child that Kurenai-sensei is bearing, I'll raise her good and strong, just like you asked me to…I won't let you down, Asuma-sensei. ;; AsumaXShikaXAsuma


**Figment;; Asuma Saratobi and Shikamaru Nara**

** Shikamaru's Point of View**

As a habitual day went on, the sun dancing in the evening sky, slowly making its way down, lowering itself behind hills, basting a crisp golden and carroty mixture over the darker nightscape that was beginning to form, it was quite lovely. Well, that's at least what it looked like in the narrow slits of my eyes from my seat, in front of a board of shogi. Finger pressed against one of the pawns on the jade and cream board, I slid the little piece into a new place, already creating a strategy against my opponent, Asuma Saratobi. Dark hazelnut eyes traced up to meet my own and a throaty chuckle seemed to slither out of the older man's throat,

"You always think that you're going to win! I'll show you one day, you cocky Nara!"

The deep, rich voice bellowed from the depths of the older man's throat. Though as instinct to his silly taunt, my eyes rolled in a lethargic circle.

"I don't think, I know." I spoke softly, my thick, tenor voice was hardly a buzz, though the serpentine hiss that always seemed to cling to my tender words remained. Tongue lightly flicking against the roof of my mouth after I spoke, the moist cavern was left slightly open as a thumb prodded the bottom lip, nudging the sticky flesh up against the upper lid of the usually protected, soft cave. Eyes flickering as I watched the bronzed, brass knuckles of the firm man, I noticed the fine, black hairs that layered the dense flesh of his knuckles. The well-rounded, thin nail that rested on the pointer finger poked at one of the shogi pieces, pushing it upon another small square. Just as I suspected, my strategy would work yet again.

"You're far too predictable, Asuma." I mumbled beneath my breath before plucking up a piece, and captured his main pawn, "Check and mate, I win." Eyes lacking much confidence, I stretched my arms upwards, cracking my knuckles and rolling my stiff shoulders slowly, loosening the tight muscles. After a while I just found this an empty bliss, not even competition at this point, I found it more so repetitive, given that I'd become victorious every time we'd have a go.

Once I snapped back into reality and out of my enveloping thoughts, I caught a glimpse of a cigarette being lit, and the nicotine puff that tainted the air with an addictive scent. I had a major issue with my old sensei puffing smokes in my house, especially because the scent of the cancer-sticks were extremely addictive, and always made me crave the scent of him and his infatuating huffs of tainted air. Though, I didn't even bother to voice my opinion at this point, getting used to the stench that drenched over the fresh air in the house. Tangling my own fingers in my tight strands of thick, coarse, silky brown hair, I began to doze off lazily, though I didn't notice the fact that nosily snores were blowing loudly though my nostrils, eyes heavy with slumber at this point. The dream that I was having was confusing me, though it was splendid.

_The hush, whispering winds rolled steadily over the high hills of Nara territory, the tall grass and hay weaved thoroughly through each other, a few pieces getting tangled within one another's embrace, trying thin, lithe knots to keep hold of one another. Puffy, course, pale, insipid clouds stirred in the western, sapphire skies, little black birds swirling around each other and gliding through the light air, spiraling towards their nest. The skies were a shiny and silvery blue, though a tad bit of golden harvest color painted into the soft, lingering cobalt essence. The sunset was coming on slowly, and the sight was one of the most brilliant scenes that I had ever been able to grasp sight of. The rustling leaves dipped a bit of sound in the seemingly tranquil, empty air. Fawns and does trotted carefully through the tangled ground of thick grass, nibbling on the forage. The bucks were out, shedding their antlers, though around this time they'd be sleeping, or letting warm juices of juniper berries splash on the buds of their tongue. Though, after taking in all of the beautiful scenes of nature that were displayed in this Wonderland, I noticed a warm caress around my body, my body coiled up in a warm ball, cuddled and coated with a flak jacket similar to mine, body warmth that was much hotter than my naturally chill temperature, and I had noticed that my cheeks had blood rising quickly to my cheeks, heated to the boiling point color of a fresh, in blood rosebud. The body that held me firmly had darkened, oak hair that also coated the well rounded, edgy jaw-line and chin, the crisp, tanned skin, the familiar scent of…_

"Shika! Wake your lazy butt up!" I heard a series of quick snapping noises in front of my face, and I knew that I had fallen asleep. Grumbling under my breath, my eyes slowly opened groggily,

"What Asuma? It's my house; I can sleep if I want to." And that was when I had noticed the damp, sticky substance that was forming near the edge of my mouth; the slippery, snotty drool was trailing down my chin. A warm, vibrant appendage ran down from the corner of my mouth to the edge of my jaw-line, collecting all of the wet substance.

"You had drool coming down your face…" sighed the experienced Nin, jerking his digits in another direction, the saliva splattering against who knows what, "It was rather adorable."

A deep vermillion red caressed the rounded edge of my cheeks, sinking deep into the coves of my slight dimples. Shaking my head in an insignificant amount of annoyance, I did not like where this was going. Heaving my chest up to draw a deep breath, I lifted my head sluggishly, gazing at my former sensei densely.

"Shikamaru, is there something you want to do? You seem bored, uninterested, I mean, I know you're all lazy and lethargic a-"

"Asuma, "lethargic" and "lazy" mean the exact same thing, there's no need to use them both right next to each other." I interrupted his story bluntly, palm resting on my face, soon to leave a cherry mark on my tan skin.

"That's not my point Nara, my point being that you are acting the slightest bit out of character." stated firm-minded twenty-six year old, arms crossing across his chest, obviously a bit frustrated with me.

"Oh really…do I have to stick to one way that I act? Do I have to put on the same old demeanor that I hold all day long? Am I not allowed to develop a personality of my own because I'm the 'oh so respected' Proxy Commander?" I grumbled, tilting my head lazily.

"I never said that Shikamaru! Why can't you get it through your head that I'm concerned for your health!" growled the buff, strong man, who was thicker than I, well, everyone was thicker than I. Though my eyes shot open with trivial surprise. No one really held concern for my issues, no one cared for me, thinking that I wasn't worth their time given I was a "lazy-nin". Those words began to sink in before I asked,

"Wait…do you actually mean that, Asuma-sensei?" I choked out through a hoarse whimper, the words tangling on my tongue like a fly caught in a spider's web. Hand shaking gently, I reached out so him, my eyes still gazing straight at him, though the hand that was drawn out was the one that left a palm mark on my cherry cheek, my head standing straight up, was sluggishly reaching out towards my former teacher, the feeble, thin fingers that were trying to reach him were convulsing in the minor degree.

"Sensei…you haven't called me sensei in a long time, Shikamaru Nara." Articulated the brawny, auburn skinned male, his eyebrows furrowing in slight confusion, "Are you sure nothing is up, kiddo?" His voice was nonchalant, though I knew it was sprinkled with concern, because it was guttural near the end of his words. Leisurely meeting my hand, the large, though nimble appendages swathed over my skinny, lithe fingers, dressing them in a layer of heat and amiability, his eyes freckled with worry.

"I just have a lot on my mind, Asuma…I called you sensei because you've taught me a lot in my life, am I not allowed to call you sensei anymore?" I asked, though the words came out in a lethargic manner, rather slow, and unsteady with each word that slipped out through my lips. Though his grasp on my nimble hand still held a sense of conviviality, working his thumb sincerely on the skin above my knuckles, massaging the tense area, he seemed to be enjoying himself.

"You can speak to me about any thing you'd like, Shikamaru-Chan." Offered the brawny chap, an overall earnest offer to help with whatever I was struggling with. His hazelnut eyes fixed upon my own eyes, the lit cigarette twitching, the blazing stick twitching between his teeth, a puffy cloud of addicting nicotine surging from the blunt tip. The smoke scorched my eyes as it puffed into my face, causing my eyes to water, and my lung to start a coughing fit. Tears gushing from the water-line of my eyes more came up and welled in the corners of my pinkish eye.

"What's wrong?" asked the burly man curiously, obviously clueless to the fact that he had shot a pretty fair amount of burning haze into my eyes. The stinging sensation strong, turning the white of my eyes a pale, flushed pink color.

"You…got…smoke in my eyes…" I tried not to whimper, though it came out as a small, feeble cry. Taking my other hand away from the shogi board, I swiped a finger delicately beneath my eye, catching a pool of salty liquids on my calloused flesh. When I finally creaked open my left eye to look at my old sensei through a slit, I saw a greater look of apprehension and disquiet. I felt my hand being drawn from my lower eye lid with imperceptible and blithe ease.

"Hey, kiddo, don't start crying, what's wrong, you haven't answered that yet." Insisted the muscular man, his actually rather soft fingers resting on my cheek, the other hand twined with my other.

"It's the smoke…please…stop." I blubbered beneath my breath, almost garroting on my words. Glimpsing up at the more mature man, meeting a dead-lock with his eyes, I could tell the he knew that I was begging almost, but that was the closest that I would allow myself to go.

"Okay…okay…just stop crying." The murmur was hush and somewhat throaty. Withdrawing his firm, steady hand from my cheek, his blocky fingers extracted the nicotine-twig from his chapped lips, bringing it back near his lips, though taking a finger and dabbed his tongue over his most likely bitter skin, then swabbing over the ember nub that was flickering a bit, a distributing a fair amount of saliva to the hot, chalky blunt edge. Setting the once burning cigarette on the table, he swiped the hand across his broad lips, a bit of glutinous, sticky saliva clinging loosely to the side of his thumb. Rubbing it furiously against his pant leg, he then rested the hand on the woody edge of the table. We caught each other staring into one another's eyes.

And then the door began to creek open, and I saw a long, nimble leg come through the door. Breaking my gaze from my former teacher's eyes, I glanced at the person who had come in the door. It was my father, Shikaka. Resting in his hands was a rounded plate, holding a teapot and two cups.

"Son, I thought that you and Saratobi-San would like some tea?" Asked the usually bitter old man, who I shared so much in common with, his gaze falling on me, my cheeks flushing brightly, he was obviously suspicious of Asuma-sensei and I.

"Yes Shikaka-San, tea would be lovely, thank you for your consideration." Thank Gods that Asuma had answered my father for me, because I couldn't think of anything, finding myself zoning out.

My father had set the tea pot on the floor next to the cushions that my previous mentor and I were resting on, and then lifting the cups steadily with his pinkies and placed them on the table next to our hands. His eyes narrowed at me, as if saying "what are you two doing". I huffed and rubbed the back of my neck in frustration, I gave him one of those innocent looks that said 'how troublesome'.

"Don't get in trouble you two." His eyes rested on Asuma, holding a firm and strict look. He had a suspicion that there was something a tad bit more than a friendship between us, or at least something developing. _Heck, if only. Gah! Why am I thinking of my sensei this way! How troublesome! _Shaking my head viciously, I noticed that I was making a tad bit of a scene, seemingly shaking my head for no reason.

My father growled lowly beneath his breath before striding out of the room and closing the door tightly, a bit frustrated, but there wasn't anything that he could do about it. I grumbled quietly, gritting my porcelain teeth together, a scraping noise sounding from my mouth,

"Yeah, sorry for my father…he can be such a drag sometimes." I muttered, fingering the tea, dipping the tip of my finger into the burning tea, and quickly withdrew it. Shivers climbed like ivy up my spine, tangling, tickling the fevered skin, giving me a sharp, fuzzy feeling on the back of my neck, throbbing, causing me to squeal into my lips, not allowing it to escape the stronghold of my lips, I could feel Asuma's eyes digging into my body, and I flinched, shaking a bit.

I felt a firm hand on my shoulder in an instant, and it caused my head to jerk up, suddenly becoming aware of my shaken state. Mouth left agape, my bottom lip twitched before meeting my upper lip, trying to keep my cool, though it obviously wasn't working. Groaning gently in frustration, I turned my back to my sensei, grumbling. _What a drag. _

"Shikamaru, you need to tell me what's up." persevered the now completely annoyed man, his eyebrows furrowed in frustration, wanting to know what was wrong. I really didn't know what to say at this point. Thinking quietly to myself, closing my eyes for merely minutes, I've finally come to what I'd say.

"Hey…I'll tell you later, if that's alright?" I offered, slowly opening my chestnut eyes, turning back to face him, a nonchalant look marking my face. Brows slowly relaxing from their once scrunched ways, the face going from a scowl to a lighter look, a small grin slowly coming to his face, and I grinned a little seeing that he was becoming less stressed.

"That will do, as long as you tell me what's bothering you sometime today." Yawned the shinobi quietly, rubbing his leg with a spare hand, itching at something on his calve, and I could see the muscled flesh ripple beneath his slightly tight uniform. The thought of that leg almost made me drool, though I quickly shook the thought away and tapped the tea cup, hooking it with my index finger and my pointer finger, pinky sticking slightly up, wiggling a bit. Conveying the edge of the cup towards my raw, tender fleshed lips that were rather sore, the thick and creamy tea washed over the sensitive skin. The burning, bruising sensation that was enveloping my lips began to take affect, turning them a mixture of ibis vermillion and bruised lavender. Grunting sharply, I situated the cup downward on top of the buoyant, flimsy table that held my family's shogi board. The tiniest, most insignificant amount of blood came out of the skinned, sensitive, raw flesh, bottom lip becoming bloody. The only reason that my lip was all gross and scraped of most of the skin is because of frustration, and biting the soft flesh to keep myself from saying something that I didn't want to say.

A careful brush to the lower lip caught my attention, and I detected the fact that my ex-educator had swept across the aching abscess, wiping the pierced epidermis, making sure that the area was sterile of oozing blood, though he had transferred his own bodily soils into my wound through the tip of his finger, causing it to give a scorching sensation to the impure slice. Wincing, little droplets began to form in my clenched eyes, dripping out of the corners.

"Asuma…"I moaned, trying not to let my voice squeak. The bearded man tilted his head slightly to the right, eyes gentle and sweet, a roasted nut color. Though that moan probably made everything worse. I caught a glimpse of a little sparkle sprinkling the darkened eyes that belonged solely to my former educator.

He had plucked up his porcelain glass, the fine details and the painted doe and fawn on the pale, insipid fine art. Sipping the hot, sweet, milky tea, I could smell the ginger and chai spices that tinted the air and most likely, though with a slightly more bitter taste and scent. I could hear the gulps and slurps of liquid that went through his chapped lips and down his firm throat, watching his Adam's apple bob a bit as he gulped down the strong tea.

"Umm…hey…Shika, you're staring…" It had taken me a few minutes for it to be brought to my attention that he had to snap me back into reality from yet another faze-out, a peachy blush invading my cheeks.

"M'sorry." I spoke softly, feeling culpable for my advancing behavior, "I-." Interrupting my apology, my educationalist cut me off, "I completely understand…you could have told me, Shikamaru-Chan." I gulped, a bit rickety. _What a drag! He caught on! Crap! _Twiddling my fingers, I brought my knees up to the bottom of my chin and cradled myself tightly, rocking a bit,

"Like I said, I'm sorry…you can leave if you want…" I whined gently into my knees.

"No…" That came to my surprise, "I want to spend time with you…you're one of my friends, and I enjoy your company." _Friends… He was making it obvious that he just wanted to be friends. Or…did he?_

"Hey…I understand it…don't worry about it…you could've told me..." affirmed the older jonin. Wait? I could have told him my feelings in the first place? _Ugh…how troublesome. _"And you call other people troublesome, yet you're the one making more trouble than you intend to by conflicting your emotions." My eyebrows lifted in a confused manner. _D-did he just make a deduction? I know that h can sometimes make an okay strategically based deduction, though an emotional one? That's a new one…_

"Like I said Asuma-sensei, I'm sorry." I sighed, securing my eyes shut, squeezing them tightly together. Grumbling a bit, a bit of a rumble cam from my throat that sounded like a purr, which wasn't precisely intended, I had noticed it though didn't make any effort to stop, because honestly, I didn't really care at this point. Palming the side of my face, my fingers implanted them self deep within my outer cheek skin, which was almost sure to leave bruising within the next hour or so.

"You're making this situation more of a drag than it needs to be." huffed the heavy smoker, shaking his head in slight disappointment. His gaze transfixed onto the magnificent paintings on the bamboo walls, the portraits of little, younglings with their mother doe, their father standing proudly beside his new family. Grunting stridently, my eyes traveled back to the similar board, which some people would say looked like a mixture of mahjong and chess.

"How about another game of shogi…if you don't find that too troublesome?" I asked inaudibly. Brushing my fingertips up against the playing board, my eyes never came back up to meet his.

"No thank you…though I have a question." muttered the gruff twenty-six year old. Was this going to be a question about what had just happened? I really hope it wasn't…though something in me wanted it to be something along those lines.

"Yes…of course." I hardly hissed through my teeth, that serpentine, tenor whisper had always ended up sounding like a snake's angry hissing.

"Who do you think the "King" is of this game?" questioned the bronzed nin, obviously wanting a serious and deducted answer.

Thinking for a few seconds about his question, my mind began to stray. _Well, there's a knight, there's the Hokage, and there are the other pawns. Obviously, the Hokage is the leader of the other pawns, and calculates the attack strategy, just as our Hokage does in reality. So, given that our Hokage has basically been made into a game pawn for shogi, the obvious answer would be in fact the Hokage. _

"It's the Hokage, correct?" It wasn't much of a question, more so a statement, given that I thought that I had been correct with my estimation.

"No, actually, you're wrong…hah… Actually, that's what I used to think when I was your age…but now I know the actual meaning of the "King"…I'll tell you when the time comes, until then, I'll leave you guessing." Chuckled the older-educator throatily. How had I been wrong? The Hokage had to be the "King", it was the only obvious choice.

"As a pawn in shogi, what pawn do you think that I am?" I interrogate, wanting to probe him for an answer now. Within little time he had responded.

"I think that you are a knight…they aren't really much, though they are able to hop around the board and defend the other pawns, also capturing other pawns, if used properly, they can win the game." Said the sun-tanned skinned teacher, his fingers lightly caressing his beard with thought. Was he saying I was useless? Well, he really wasn't. He said that I meant a lot, but I was simple, which was actually very true. Though that pawn probably moves more than I do in a day.

"Nice deduction, sensei." I yawned tiredly, rubbing my eye as sleep began to invade my eyes, a burdensome, deep heaviness dragging my lower eye lid.

"You seem tired."

"Yeah…what a drag." I exhaled noisily, heaving a sigh. As the tall man began to stand up, he made his way around the game board table and over to me. Tugging softly at my four longer fingers, he asked,

"Do you want to go out for a walk before you go to bed? Maybe do some cloud watching, or just talk?" he probed, rubbing the back of his neck roughly.

"Yeah…sure, let's go." Breathing heavily, I squeezed my eyes shut and stood up, allowing my previous lecturer to clasp my lithe, of shogi, the normal, habitual day that my earlier professor and I shared often. I remember when I had first brought him to my house to play.

_"Well, this is a nice place you have here, so, this is the Nara Compound?" asked a younger, scruffier version of Asuma-sensei, a lit cancer-stick wedged between his teeth. "Yeah…it is…" I huffed, arms crossed tightly across my chest, my head tilted forward, examining the ground instead of looking my sensei in the eye, "Just remember, this is Nara territory, nobody is allowed to go on this territory without the accompaniment of a Nara himself or herself, if a nin or a kunoichi of any sort is found on this compound, the deer will alert us, and we will come after you." It was a fair warning, a bit of a growl strangled my voice. "Well, that's pretty strict, but what would the fun be in being here by myself with no one to play shogi with, eh?" chuckled the well-built teacher, his cigarette puffing smoky gray ash from the tip, sprinkling on my nose and swathing into my eyes. "Stop doing that! It hurts!" I hissed, wiping my eyes, trying to get the tears to go away. "Sorry…"murmured the guilty man, drawing out his hand and taking his scratched up thumb and swiping the tears away, "Better now?" I slowly nodded. _

"Let's get going." A hand tugging me towards the door, I walked with a drone like fashion, slow and hardly moving, though walking anyways, hardly recognizing that my body was functioning by itself while I was off in a different dimension, thinking away about the past.

"Hey, Shikamaru, I think that we're here." I heard the gruff voice gurgle from the long neck, the little whiskers that were sprouting a bit away from his side burns were twitching when he talked. My eyes were open by a hair's breadth, eyelashes almost blocking my view and my attention of my preceding teacher.

Slumping down to rest on the tree, I stretched upwards, my arms swinging over my head and elongating, loosening the muscles, making me feel more at ease. Gawking at my older sensei, within a fluid moment his warmth was beside me, his shoulder pressing against my own, hand resting atop of mine.

"S-sensei…"I shrieked accidentally. Quickly realizing the noise that had escaped my lips, I slapped a firm hand over my bruised lips, wincing as the pain seared my senses.

"Ugh! Stop calling me sensei, I'm not your sensei anymore!" His eyes slowly came down to meet mine, and he saw the fear and shock that were concealed in my eyes, "H-hey…Shikamaru…did I do something wrong?" Withdrawing his hand from my own, his eyes gaped at me, holding a fair amount of trepidation and trouble.

"N-no…I'm sorry…s-I mean…um…Asuma…I don't mind…it put some shock into me is all." My cheeks were quickly attacked by a flush of burgundy. I felt the presence of his surprisingly downy and slick hand, and the blush began to slowly fade, calming down. Leaning up against his shoulder, cuddling into the warmth that he presented, the scent of his ivy flak jacket that was so similar to my own smelt of a crisp, cedar, and a mixture of sandalwood, the smell relaxing, yet slightly invigorating, I was in a comforting bliss. Resting my head tenderly onto his broad, brawny shoulder, I felt his arm slide up and wring itself around me, bringing me closer to the older male. His features were flawless, the way each darkened whisker fell with his beard, fuzzy, though beautiful.

Gaze becoming caught on the insipid grace of the fluffy, puffs of white that scattered throughout the sky, their slight, though everlasting movement intriguing me.

"So, Nara...what do you like so much about the clouds?" I knew that he was going to ask that question eventually, and the answer was actually quite simple.

"I like the clouds because I wish I could be one of them, just float around leisurely all day, not a care in the world, see the birds, and look over everyone as I pass by." I huffed breathily.

"Hey…Asuma…?" I asked deftly, almost inaudible. Leisurely glancing down at me, his hazel eyes held a nurturing look, a compassionate look washing over the deep and darkened orbs.

"Yeah?" asked the broad man casually, the thick fingers still fondling my own, thin fingers between the tips of his.  
"I love you…" I trailed off, quickly looking away once the words were said, though I felt a tight grip around my neck, stopping me from completely jerking away. Though within a few seconds, the grip loosened, and my face was kindheartedly moved back into the direction of my sensei, and our eyes both met, gazing through each other, seeing into each other's souls seemingly for a few seconds, those seconds were paradise, true bliss.

"I love you too…Shikamaru Nara." The whisper was husky, and swift. Though what came next was something that I'd remember for the rest of my life.

The warm, welcoming, tender flesh of the man that had once educated me was enclosed around my own lips, meeting, joining our body together from the head. The kiss was chaste, and smooth, though sent an ache into my raw lips, though that was nothing. All that mattered was that I got to spend this time with a loved one, my best friend, and the one I trusted the most with everything and anything, Asuma Saratobi. Though, the moment was slowly drawn to an end as one more, subtle kiss was laid upon my cheek before drawing me closer into the commander of the squad I was currently in. His nose nuzzled my hair, his fingers tickling at the hair-tie that kept my hair in a high ponytail, slowly gripping it off through the silken locks that were my hair. Hair being combed with steady fingers, I just took the time to relax and melt into the heavy, luxurious scent that was weaved through the mint colored flak jacket. His arms embraced me closer, cuddling me up to his chest, holding me close and endearingly, planting a firm kiss to my forehead.

"I love you Shikamaru, through death."

* * *

I blinked a few times and glanced around. _Forest…forest...wait…what? _I thought that I had just been with my sensei, on my favorite hill, beneath my favorite tree. No, I was wrong. I was caught in one of my flashbacks again. One of my stupid, ignorant flashbacks. It had only been a figment of my imagination, drawing me into what happened only into what had taken place merely a day or two before our mission where my beloved Asuma died. We kissed, we hugged, he loved each other…and now he was gone.

"What you twerp, thinking about your dead sensei, how pathetic!" hissed an ashen haired man from binding that was held above a ditch, the hole more than six feet deep. I was in reality now. Asuma was dead. My lover, my life, my sensei, the person who taught me everything I knew…he was dead. That bastard in front of me killed him in cold blood, spat on his grave, called him a "cash-cow". _Payback really sucks, doesn't it, fool? You're so stupid…how troublesome. _

"Huh, you pathetic little idiot, got lost in old times, let me tell you kiddo, those times don't come back!" cackled the malicious Akatski member, "It was beautiful watching the life seep from that pathetic thing of a man's body, his blood was simply delicious!"

"Sensei…" I whimpered beneath my breath, gnawing at my bottom lip. No. I would not cry. Too many tears have been shed to simply cry anymore. What was the point anyways? Nothing would fix it, it wouldn't help me make amends.

"Oh, so he's your sensei? No wonder why you are so foolish!" hissed the gray haired man, shaking in his bound area. He was a complete idiot if I had to say so myself.

"So I'm foolish…yet you're the one who well for my trick? I was ten steps ahead of you the whole time, yet you think that I'm the impudent brat?" Sneering, I drew a kunai from my weapon pocket, and then, finally drew out the lighter.

"Shut up!" growled the taller male, legs thrashing, "H-hey…what are you doing with that?"

"You see this hole that you hang above?" I quizzed snidely, "This is your grave." A little chuckle rumbled in my throat.

"Oh really, and what makes you think that your trick is going to be a success?" bellowed the immortal man, "You can cut me into little pieces, limb from limb, but I can still bring myself back together, I live forever, I am immortal!"

"It's going to work because you have already dug your own grave. When you curse someone's soul, you did your own grave. You cursed my sensei's soul when you killed him for bounty and the sheer joy of the kill, this hole…is your grave." And with that, a rustle came from the bushes and a pair of antlers emerged from the rustling berry bearer, it's black, obsidian eyes gleamed with hate as it stared at the bound nin, snorting.

"A deer, you have got to be kidding me?" chuckled the tied up immortal.

"Yes, it's a deer. This is Nara territory. Nobody is allowed on Nara territory, if someone is found on Nara territory they will be attacked as it is, but with this area filled with watchful deer, and me as it's keeper and heir to the land, we'll be able to keep a close eye on you." I smirked gently, my finger flicking open the top of the lighter, starting the process of getting it to light.

"Darn…you…" grunted the quivering male, still trying to get free., "Y'know, Jushin will not be pleased with this…he will show you what true hell really is…you still have time to purify yourself!" choked out the gray haired man, insanity scarring his face.

"Sorry, but we don't believe in the same thing, Hidan." I muttered snidely beneath a sight, getting the fire to flicker.

"Haha! I'm just kidding! Jusin will punish your pathetic soul, you will rot, and suffer in a fiery hellhole, he will be passing judgement on you soon!" hissed the frustrated, tedious male.

"I believe in the will of fire, to protect those around me, not serve as a puppy dog to a fake god." I growled throatily, "Anyways…your god means nothing right now, for I am the only one here, the only one to pass judgment on you, right now, I am your god."

And with that, the lighter lit. Though…the presence felt all to real next to me…

"Shikamaru Nara…" _Was it him, was it really him!?_ "I pass onto you the will of fire, to protect everyone around you, you are amazing." Glancing up, almost shaking, I saw the pale, ghostly figure, an unlit cigarette between his lips. A small grin plastered itself on my face, and I lifted the blaze, lighting the cancer stick. A loud, bellowing laugh cackled through the spirit's throat, a gentle smile on his face. The wispy spirit came up to me, embracing me in a thick, needing, loving hug, and a kiss was planted on my head before I gave him the slightest peck on the lips. _Until we meet again on the other side, love…until we meet again. I will not let you down…I will take care of your child that Kurenai-sensei is bearing, I'll raise her good and strong, just like you asked me to…I won't let you down, Asuma-sensei. _ Looking at the flickering lighter, I huffed deeply. _I'll retrieve it later_. Chucking it into the pit that rested beneath the monster who slain my sensei, hitting against the trigger and setting off all of the kunai bombs, causing a massive explosion, almost deafening, burying the dissected pieces of the heartless-killer beneath stones and gravel.

_You're finally free sensei, off to roam the clouds, off to float leisurely and watch all your loved ones, we'll watch each other, we still have each other sensei...I love you...I...love you..._

"This is for you, Asuma-sensei."


End file.
